Anne-Maren Birkelid
Interior architecture and furniture design
Royal Academy Of Art The Hague KABK
Specialisms: Interior Architecture / Fine Art / Installation/Sculpture
Location: Den Haag, Netherlands
Anne-Maren Birkelid
First Name: Anne-Maren
Last Name: Birkelid
Specialisms: Interior Architecture / Fine Art / Installation/Sculpture
Sectors:
My Location: Den Haag, Netherlands
University / College: Royal Academy Of Art The Hague KABK
Course / Program Title: Interior architecture and furniture design
About
With a background in both art and design, Anne-Maren Birkelid creates work that moves between the two disciplines. Her practice explores how built spaces and objects shape culture, perceptions, knowledge and lived experience.
Through spatial creations and designs, object-making, interaction, observation, photography, and drawing, she presents seemingly mundane topics and invites audiences to reflect deeper on topics through active participation.
Drawing inspiration from Norwegian and Islamic cultural heritage, and nature-inspired craft traditions, her work combines artistic research with material exploration to develop new forms, new perspectives, and inspire new ways of relating to and caring for our surroundings. She creates experiences and objects that open up possibilities for interactions that do not yet exist.
Hospitality is often reserved for those closest to us. We create spaces of care and belonging through gathering, conversation and offering. But what might happen if we extend these gestures further, to those who we do not know, and to those who may need them most? An Invite to Tea is a portable hospitality set by artist and designer Anne-Maren Birkelid. It invites people to gather over tea while reflecting on the many questions, dilemmas, and possibilities of hospitality through the experience of hospitality itself. Its design draws on eight-pointed stars found in both cultures, Norwegian rosemaling, and Moroccan wood painting as ornamentation. Around the table are eight questions that open up for reflection and discussion about hospitality: What does it mean to welcome? How can hospitality be a tool for connection? What are the limits of hospitality? The Provider provides, what prevents us from giving more? Who gets to belong and call a place their home? What if we gave without expectations? What labour lies behind a welcome? Who do we become by welcoming others? Developed from her research on Norwegian and Moroccan hospitality practice, the design merges cultural elements and ornamentation into a new aesthetic and function. The set consists of a table, extending table boards, sitting mats and backpack straps. The table also doubles as a storage box for a tea set. It is designed to be partially or fully assembled and provides a space for hosting a tea gathering for up to eight people. When disassembled, the pieces may be stacked and carried as a backpack, making it possible to offer tea and hospitality anywhere.
Competitions
